Eleven White Mice
by souperkyoot
Summary: //Previously Innocence Crumbled// A mess in the Lower Elements is not Artemis' biggest problem this time.
1. Prologue

**Prologue **

Artemis Fowl meets someone he'd never expect to meet in a way he'd never expect to be in.  
Caroline Eddelstein is trying to feel again, something she hasn't done since her rape at thirteen.  
Domovoi Butler is glad that his charge has finally met a girl that isn't one of the People or a criminal mastermind.  
Minerva Paradizo meets a girl that intrigues her, and is happy to have a female friend.  
Holly Short is worried about the new girl in her friends' lives.  
Foaly the Centaur is shocked beyond belief.

This is the story about the girl that changed everyone's lives, and her quest to feel again.

* * *

Three years, two months, two days since the rape. Three years, two months, six days since the kidnapping. Three years, one month, seven days since Wyatt's death.

Except Wyatt had never really died, no, his memory had been haunting her for the last three years.

Caroline sat on the edge of her seat, knuckles white against the black leather of the chair. Her memories haunted her particularly in areas of the event, whenever she had a moment to herself, whenever the room got too quiet. The lounge seemed as if it had been put on mute, but if she concentrated on the silence, she could make out the murmur of conversation and the clacking of typing. She closed her eyes and focused on the talking, but all she could hear was just the lilt and tone of two male voices. Once was annoyed, and the other completely calm, even slightly irritated.

Caroline almost jumped as her flight was announced through the overhead speakers. A stewardess made her way towards Caroline with a plastic smile. The girl ignored the woman and gathered her things, or rather, backpack. She almost hit the woman when she touched her on the shoulder to lead the way to the aircraft. Almost.

The truth behind Caroline's jumpiness was that three years ago, Caroline and her older brother Wyatt were kidnapped right before boarding a flight to Ireland; a flight exactly like the one she was about to board. The ghost of a feeling coiled in her belly, it was the familiar sensation of fear. She was mildly surprised to be feeling the fear at all, but she was also half-expecting it. As she handed her boarding pass to the pretty woman at the gate, Caroline noticed the masked surprise that flickered through her eyes. Apparently the woman hadn't expected a girl wearing jeans and a slightly large male button down shirt to be in first class. If the woman had looked closer, she would've seen designer clothes and discreet jewelry. The male's shirt was Wyatt's who had been 15 when the incident occurred. She felt that it would be appropriate to have at least a small part of him come on the trip with her.

Caroline was being taken care of _extra_ carefully, as all of the staff of the plane were aware of what had happened to her. Her parents had made sure of it. She was the first one on the plane, and was in the middle, as to not be conspicuous. Caroline closed her eyes as the plane started to fill up. It wasn't long before she heard a familiar voice. It was the annoyed one from the lounge.

"Butler, I can't believe that Father took the Learjet and the twins to Indonesia before conferring with me." The older voice sighed and Caroline suspected that the man had rolled his eyes.

"Artemis, this is the fourth time we've gone over this, I'll ensure that it won't happen again." Both voices were Irish; the second was at least two decades older than the first. "I'm sorry Artemis, since this was a last second arrangement, we'll be split up, unless someone moves." She heard the first voice give a world-weary sigh. The voices stopped in front of her seat.

"Excuse me, miss? Could you please switch seats with my friend Butler here?"

At the word 'miss' Caroline cracked her eyes, a second later, when she realized that she was being addressed, she opened her eyes and turned to the source. Her eyes swept Artemis Fowl II and his manservant before dead eyes met a pair of equally dead eyes. A slight moment of shock passed through them both as they realized that their eyes were looking into nothingness. The moment was shattered by Shelly, the blond stewardess. "Excuse me, sirs? Miss Edderstein cannot be moved, it is a safety precaution."

The boy's manservant nodded, and both men caught her mumble, "Shows how much the Eddersteins value money after their daughter's been kidnapped and raped once."

* * *

**Edited 6.25.08**

I'm rating it T for now, but I'm pretty sure I'm bumping it up to M when the subject of Caroline's rape comes up.  
If anyone anyone anyone wants to help me sort out my story, please go ahead and contact me!

Please read and review!


	2. Happiest Place On Earth

**Happiest Place On Earth**

Disclaimer: I kinda don't own Artemis Fowl. Big Shocker.

* * *

After the aircraft had taken off, Caroline had visibly calmed. She rationalized that once they were in the air, the chances of the plane being hijacked by terrorists greatly overtook the chance of her being kidnapped. Until they landed, that is.

"It's hardly likely that someone would try to hijack the plane with your friend on board."

She wasn't trying to make conversation; she never bothered with it, but was simply pointing out the fact. Caroline knew that the boy (he looked about her age, but she could never really tell anymore) and his 'friend' weren't really so. She had spotted the relationship immediately; the older man worked for the boy, Artemis. Artemis turned to look at her, as is polite in conversation, but noticed that her facial expression was exactly the same as it had been before; blank. He'd only ever encountered that face in the mirror or at the poker table with seasoned _business men_.

"If anyone was stupid enough to, Butler would have them taken care of in an instant."

The name rang a bell in the back of her mind, but she ignored it for now. A brief smile graced her lips, it was a formality, and she could tell that Artemis could see through it as she introduced herself, "I'm Caroline Edderstein, heiress to the Edderstein fortune." Her smile was met with an equally real smile on Artemis' part.

"I am Artemis Fowl, heir to the Fowl fortune." For a moment, the fake smile on Caroline's face turned real. Then she stifled it and went back to a blank face. She smiled because she had recognized Artemis Fowl's name. She always smiled when she figured things out, so her family had taken to giving her extensive mind exercises just to see her face light up with accomplishment.

"It is very nice to meet to meet you, as we'll be neighbors for the summer." She trusted his intellect, after having heard extraordinary things about it.

Edderstein manor was neither as old nor as big as Fowl manor, but the Eddersteins held more land over the Fowl's heads. They were as close to neighbors as they could get, basically across the street from each other.

After a long stretch of silence between them, only fractured by sighs and Caroline's squirming in her seat, Caroline felt that she ought to break it, if only to confirm a niggling suspicion. "Your friend, he wouldn't be of any relation to Juliet Butler, the Jade Princess?"

She had taken a long shot, and even though it could be a huge miss, she felt the connection somewhere. Maybe because of the family resemblance, or it was just that she knew Artemis' manservant's name from somewhere.

Casual conversation was something Artemis Fowl wasn't very good at and talking to girls his own age he could just forget about. In the rare instance where he found himself in the situation, he pretended he was talking at a business meeting. He might come off a bit stiff, but it was better than stuttering and blushing. He didn't opt for the business meeting option this time, as the Eddersteins were frequent visitors to the Fowl manor. His parents had a bit of a soft spot for the elderly couple, and Artemis had no intention of being made fun of by the adolescent girl in front of his parents, which he was sure a teenage girl would do.

"You don't seem like the type to watch Mexican Wrestling," he artfully dodged the question. He could see Caroline's face soften to an almost-smile. His brain started jogging through a psychoanalysis of the girl next to him.

"I'm not really, my brother is, was, and he told me all about it. I still watch it on occasion as an honor to him." The pilot announced that they were halfway over the Atlantic, and the flight would only be several more hours, and that dinner would be served. Caroline was glad that she was leaving New York, and then she remembered she was supposed to be having a conversation.

She tuned in to hear the end of Artemis' comment, "…younger sister." She nodded, and the conversation died off there, to Artemis' relief.

She had taken a MacBook Pro out, and was watching a movie in a foreign language. It wasn't a language he knew, but he recognized the landscape and their lip movements as something Germanic, probably one of the Scandinavian languages. After further eaves-watching he recognized the Actor to be Danish, and inferred the movie to be in the language. He took out his mobile phone and wrote several emails to pass the time. Every time a stewardess would pass by, he hid his actions with a magazine. When Caroline was done, she put her laptop away, and their eyes met. "I'm teaching myself Danish." She was sitting cross-legged in the comfortable seat, and was drinking Sunny D from a small bottle.

"Why?" He'd looked up from his phone.

"It's the happiest place on earth." His mismatched eyes looked at her hard, and Artemis Fowl felt something he'd never felt before. Artemis Fowl was looking at a girl that he'd just met, and was feeling compassion.

* * *

**Edited 6.25.08**

**the epitome of randomness**: I understand that rape is something that people are really iffy with. I'll do the kidnapping in detail, but the rape will just be her feelings.  
The thing is that the rape is kind of a focal point in the story.

**jadeddragon212**: I'm aware of all this yellow tape around the rape subject, and I don't care if I'm flamed. Thank you for liking it, and I'll keep your warning in mind as I write.

This is set post Lost Colony, circa summer of 2009, therefore Artemis is 18 and Caroline is 16.  
I'm not sure if romance is going to break out between the two, but Caroline meets the whole gang, including Holly and Mulch and Foaly, and um, yeahhh.

READ THIS SHIT NOW.


	3. Flight

**Flight**

I don't need a disclaimer; the idea that I own Artemis Fowl is ridiculous.  
I do own Caroline Edderstein, though.

* * *

Butler sat in the seat in front of Caroline; therefore he'd heard the light conversation that went on behind him. He then heard the sigh of relief that Artemis released once the girl had fallen asleep.

The trip the two had taken was not of dubious nature by any means, but Artemis had left school for it anyways. The truth of the matter is that Angeline Fowl's birthday was coming up, and since he was there for the first time in three years to celebrate it, an amazing present was in order. Artemis Fowl and his manservant had flown to New York City to donate fifty thousand dollars to charity. He'd gotten a certificate, _and _a check receipt, _and_ a picture with some of the people he was helping. He even smiled, but that was just for his mother.

Artemis knew how much this would mean to his mother, he knew how much more this would mean to her than a Tiffany's necklace. It would make his mother happy, his father happy, and it would make life considerably easier for Artemis. It was a win on every side, except the fact that he had used 50,000 dollars out of his own pocket. Sure, the money could be replaced, but Artemis tended to be a bit of a penny pincher.

The manservant had come along as a photographer, witness, and companion. He was too old to bodyguard, but he secretly believed that Artemis would get lonely without him. He was right.

* * *

Caroline dreamed she was flying. She dreamed she was soaring through the clouds and she dreamed she was flying over fields and pastures. Caroline had been afflicted with the flying dream for a little over a year now. It was a lovely dream, but extremely frustrating. Every morning when she woke up, she felt a sense of loss at finding herself firmly rooted to the ground, and Caroline's morning would start off with her cursing Gravity and Sir Isaac Newton after creating the law and having nasty fig snacks named after him. The closest she'd come to the feeling was when she went scuba diving in Barbados. Ignoring the fact of her irrational fear of fish, she had fun swimming around the Caribbean, as long as the instructor stayed close by with a large knife. She'd completely blocked out the notion that if the instruction had cut anything and blood tainted the water around her, _more_ fish would come, along with other things she'd prefer not think about.

The plane hit light turbulence as it was descending into Dublin Airport, causing Caroline to wake up. There was a moment when she still wasn't fully awake and the descending feeling in her stomach confused her. Her brain sent out electricity to every corner in her body, making her heart pound like crazy. It took her a second to realize that she was still on the plane and they were only descending, but the moment of elation still held a sort of magic to her.

She buckled her seatbelt and made sure that her backpack had everything in it. She sat back and closed her eyes again. She never liked planes landing, and this time was the first time she had stepped foot on an airplane since the kidnapping. Caroline closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as the plane lurched and dropped. She heard the wheels unfold, and two minutes later, the plane hit the ground. They were safe.

Caroline hadn't even realized that she was gripping her knees so tightly that her knuckles popped when she let go. If she was looking, she would've seen Artemis frown slightly.

The flight attendants made sure that Caroline was the first person off the plane, and that she was delivered safely into the arms of her grandparents. It was the first time she had seen them in years, and the tears in her grandmother's eyes made her heart drop into her stomach. Endorphins were released as she ran to hug her grandparents, but there was no happiness surging through the veins of the adolescent girl.

"I missed you guys so much." It was whispered through a bone cracking hug.

"I'm so sorry we couldn't see you before, but your father…" Her grandfather trailed off, but Caroline wasn't listening. It pained her how there were people that loved her so much in the world, and she couldn't even express the most basic feelings of endearment without loving them truly.

"Let's get your luggage and let's go home, you must be exhausted." Caroline simply nodded dumbly at her grandfather and just went along with whatever they were doing.

She slept in the car, and was half-carried to her room, where she dreamt of flying high over trees and streams and fields.

* * *

Not very far away, a genius and his manservant were driving down the lane.

"What'd you think of the girl?"

Artemis looked slightly surprised at the question; it wasn't much like Butler to ask things irrelevant to the overall topic. Which was nothing, in this case, they had been sitting in silence for well over an hour.

Artemis just looked at Butler through the mirror.

"Why?"

"Your parents like the Eddersteins; you'll be seeing a lot of her around."

* * *

**Edited 6.25.08**

**the epitome of randomness:** I promise that Caroline isn't that smart. I'm going to start introducing her a lot more in the next chapter.

**jadeddragon212:** Don't worry kiddo, I'll keep writing! And thanks for having faith in me.

**hopelily: **I kind of addressed all of that in my reply. I'm willing to improve and I'd love your input on how I could make Caroline a more rounded character.

Thanks for reviewing, guys.  
Caroline has some weird irrational fears. They can all be explained, however.  
I'm going to try and post every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Depending on my workload at school I'll see if I can post a bit more over the week. The chapters will get longer as the story progresses, and I've got several ways that the plot could go.  
I already know how she meets Mulch Diggums.


	4. Sleep, Brainfreeze, and Awkward Meetings

**Sleep, Brain-freeze, and Awkward Meetings **

Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl.  
_Or do I?_

* * *

"Shouldn't she be on medication?"

"Lisa doesn't want her daughter drugged up."

"I understand, but I've never seen her cry before."

"Neither have I, poor girl."

Elyse and Karl were contemplating on whether they should wake their granddaughter up, or let her sleep a few more hours. The worrying thing was that Caroline was crying in her sleep, and that was never a good thing.

"Isn't it unhealthy for people to sleep this long?"

"It's probably just jet lag, dear."

After Caroline had collapsed on her bed, she had stayed in dreamland for a bit over twenty hours. It was now quarter past five in the morning, and her grandparents were starting to get worried.

"Do you think she's sick? I knew we should've insisted to fly her over on our plane."

"Calm down, Elyse, she's probably fine."

The elderly couple fretted on.

"Can you just shut up?" The whine came from beneath layers and layers of covers. Caroline's hand groped for a pillow to put over her head.

The two old people looked at each other in surprise; she had given them an abnormally normal response to their prodding.

"Carrie, honey, we were just checking if you were okay; you were crying in your sleep."

There was a short silence.

"No I wasn't."

"Alright dear."

When they received silence as an answer, the two grandparents left Caroline to her sleep and went back to bed themselves.

Caroline slept and dreamed of considerably nicer things than before.

* * *

Something chirped loudly outside. That something chirped again, except this time it was louder. It chirped again. The covers shifted and a groan echoed through the room. The something was quiet for a second before chirping again.

Apparently, a bird was really insistent on waking Caroline up. After less than two minutes it had succeeded its quest. It was ten in the morning, and Caroline had succeeded in sleeping for over a day. Sleep like that wasn't exactly lovely and refreshing. It was so refreshing it had drenched Caroline in sweat and had crusted her eyes with dried tears. She trundled herself into the adjoining bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Her light brown hair resembled something out of an eighties rock band, her mouth was rimmed with drool and her eyes were bloodshot and crusty. She made a face at herself and washed her face.

All her things were still packed, so she just rummaged around the linen closet for a bathrobe. Her search proved fruitless, and she resorted to opening one of her bags. She took a shower, using soap as shampoo because she had forgotten to pack her own bottle. She had remembered her conditioner and body wash, so she used those liberally.

It was half past ten when Caroline stomped down the stairs in a bathrobe and half-dried hair. Having visited the manor many times as a child, she still remembered most of the layout. She was bound to make some mistakes, but she had always been a quick learner.

She found the kitchen fairly easily, but the search for an apple took a bit more time. After a while it was apparent that her grandparents kept all their fresh fruit in the refrigerator (something she'd have to remedy as soon as possible). Caroline walked outside to the patio where she inferred her grandparents would be having breakfast. She bit into the apple and received a massive brain-freeze for her troubles. That wasn't her only trouble, as it appeared that her grandparents had company.

-----

Angeline Fowl had been looking forward to meeting the heiress of the Edderstein fortune for quite some time. She had been shown pictures of the girl and her brother as infants and children, and heard countless stories about her. Angeline was supposed to have met the girl three years previously, but two catastrophes had occurred. Not only was Caroline kidnapped, but her son had dropped off the face of the planet. The neighboring families had pulled each other through their respective tragedies, and the bond between them had strengthened to practically family. When Angeline had heard that Caroline was going to visit Ireland, she was ecstatic. Elyse and Karl just had to invite her for dinner on the day of the girl's arrival, but when Caroline had slept through that, they had changed the dinner to breakfast. Angeline had been anticipating the meeting for so long that she felt silly about it and wouldn't tell anyone how excited she was.

-----

Caroline took a calm breath of Irish air. It was clean and slightly brisk; perfect morning air. The brain freeze went away slowly, and when the final traces were gone, she blinked several times and chewed her bite of apple thoroughly.

"Sorry," she started, "brain freeze."

She gave a lazy smile and ran a hand through her damp hair, it wasn't apparent at all that she was currently mortified (so much for a good impression).

"Good morning gran, paps. Good morning…" She smiled at Angeline.

"Honey, this is Angeline Fowl, our neighbor." Caroline almost died.

"Good morning, Mrs. Fowl. It is a pleasure to meet you at last." She extended her hand, but was surprised when Angeline stood from her seat at the breakfast table and gave her a hug. Caroline hugged the woman back after realizing what was going on, and smiled softly. Angeline Fowl had the same dark blonde hair as Wyatt did, and hugging the woman was like having a piece of her brother back. Her mind banished further thought of Wyatt before she collapsed into a sobbing pile. It was a coping mechanism that she found to work incredibly well for functioning as a human being.

"It is my pleasure, dear."

All four of them had decided to ignore the fact that Caroline was almost naked besides for a terry cloth bathrobe and save her from even greater embarrassment. She sat down next to her grandmother, across from Angeline and her grandfather. Caroline swept her bangs from her eyes and took another bite from her apple. It was still cold, but she would live.

"I was just telling your grandparents how excited I was to finally have a girl around; they told me that you're the first girl in the family for generations. When I found out I was pregnant with twins, I was hoping one of them would be a girl… but Myles and Beckett are so wonderful I couldn't even compare." Did Irish aristocrats usually babble at almost-strangers? Of course, Elyse saved the situation. Were her grandparents and the Fowls really that close?

"I know what you mean, Angie! When Lisa got pregnant again with Caroline, we were so excited, especially since we already had gotten an heir. We practically lived in New York for the last three months of her pregnancy. Carrie, you were the cutest little kicker… it was as if you were saying, 'let me out! Let me out!' We were just so happy for another baby we could've stolen you and taken you back here."

They laughed a giddy morning laugh, and proceeded with casual conversation. After Caroline cast her shell of awkwardness, she found out that the twins were in Indonesia because Mr. Fowl liked to steal the boys away to spend time with them in exotic places. She found out that the Fowl family would be reunited in a couple days' time, and –Caroline almost snickered- that Artemis Junior had surprised everyone by coming home from term a week early looking very tired yesterday morning. Caroline talked about living in New York and her schooling and how her parents were. By the time Angeline left, it was high noon, and Caroline had been invited over for late lunch and her grandparents were invited for drinks.

After a little more catching up, Caroline excused herself to go get dressed and unpacked, as she was staying in Ireland for her entire summer vacation.

It was a Sunday in early June, and birds were singing their songs and people went about their business. Caroline just sat in the middle of a giant mess. She was supposed to be putting her things away, but one thing led to another and she ended up just trying on her clothes and taking them off again. About a third of her clothes were in the closet, a third was strewn about the room, and the last of it was still packed.

"Carrie, if we don't go soon, we'll be late for lunch." Her grandmother was standing at the door, grinning at her granddaughter and her mess.

"Alright, I'll be ready in five minutes." Caroline swept some clothes into her arms and ran into the bathroom.

It was ten minutes, in fact, but nobody was there to chastise her for it because her grandparents were waiting for her in their car. It took her a second before she skipped out the side door and found the sleek black Jaguar. She saw them looking at her through the windshield and she waved. Her grandmother signaled that she should get her ass in the car right now.

Caroline almost sprinted to the car and once inside she melted into the creamy leather, enjoying the comfort of the car. The drive over to the Fowl estate would take around five minutes even though they basically lived across the street and this provided the Eddersteins to have a little chat.

"How long have you guys known the Fowls?" It took a moment for the elderly people to think.

"I think we met them when we bought the manor and started renovations. Then after we moved from Connecticut we started to get to know Artemis and Angeline."

"So it's been about twenty years." Her grandfather threw in the comment to make it seem like he was paying attention. He wasn't, he was concentrating on driving down the winding driveway.

"And what's the boy like?"

"As if we don't tell you enough, it's really hard to describe him. You'll know what I mean when you meet him."

"Okay." There was a silence, and then they were there.

* * *

Artemis had been told by his mother to be ready by three. It was ten minutes to, and Artemis was straightening his suit in the mirror. It wasn't so much the fact that he wanted to impress the girl, but with his stubborn obsession with things being perfect. His obsession had forced him to spend an extra twenty minutes staring at his computer, trying to figure out what was wrong with the machine. It was his obsession that had locked him in the bathroom for nearly three quarters of an hour getting ready for something almost meaningless, and as he finished fixing his Armani suit, he caught sight of the Edderstein's sleek car. The car lurched into parking right next to the walk-way (it had taken Karl years of practice) and the right rear door opened first.

No, his breath wasn't caught in his throat, nor was he enraptured by her beauty. He was just surprised. He was surprised to see the girl so different (so... seemingly happy) than she had been a little over a day ago. He spared one last glance at the mirror and walked out of his bathroom, through his room, down the hall, down the stairs, down another hall, and into the kitchen. The doorbell rung right as he entered the kitchen, so he turned heel and winded his way to the front parlor (he preferred that word over 'living room', 'living room' sounded so… _cheap_) where his mother would introduce him to the girl and they would chat and drink a bit, and hopefully settle in.

Then they would tuck in for late lunch and everyone would hit it off wonderfully.

It wasn't the way that everyone wanted it to go, it was the way it was going to, and nobody had anything to say about it. That was, unless the girl hadn't been raised properly, and that he doubted.

His mother's chatter floated into the room and Artemis composed his face into something he judged to be pleasant. He caught sight of the girl, trailing behind and admiring the art that hung on the walls. She was wearing a white sundress and a bright smile, so contrary to what he had last seen her wearing. Her soft brown hair came town to the middle of her back and was (naturally, he guessed) highlighted. Her lightly-tanned skin suggested that she spent more time outside than Artemis himself did, but then again… Mulch Diggums tended to get more sun-time than Artemis.

She was tall, and that surprised him a little, seeing as neither of the Edderstein grandparents were any taller than the average person (Elyse being slightly shorter, to add to the mystery) but it wasn't really in his place to know the family genome.

Caroline was also very thin. In fact, it looked as if someone had steamrollered the girl. She had long legs, with dainty feet at the ends (not big enough to really fit her body without seeing a bit off to the observant eye) and breasts (along with buttocks) were practically nonexistent. If she wasn't damn near 5' 9", she could've passed for a pre-pubescent girl… But that was only if nobody happened to look at her face.

Artemis heard his name and stood up; shaking off the daze he'd been in and proceeded to act for all the world like the perfect host, as always.

By the very fact that his mother hadn't shot him any reproachful glares, he figured that Caroline had kept her lips sealed about their little flight and that Caroline was at least a bit smarter than she looked to be.

Caroline caught him staring at her and she winked at him.

* * *

Right. So this is more than twice what I gave you last week, so I won't be giving you an update tomorrow.  
Reason being that I have to make a movie for health with a couple of friends and I won't have time to type up some stuff for you guys, unless you guys want something short and shitty.

There, I described her for you. I wanted to give her black hair, but Caroline just gave me a steely look and insisted that her hair be light brown. I had to agree that it was fitting.

I hope you guys realize by now that Caroline is not a Mary Sue. I'm not defending my character or my honor or anything, but she really, honestly, isn't. I took the litmus test after the second chapter and she scored a five or six. Caroline has possibly Sueish elements, but as a character on the whole she isn't even close.

Thanks to **winged-silhouette**, **the epitome of randomness**, and **punkartgurl13** for reviewing. I love you more than you can imagine.

Don't worry guys, I won't start lagging on updates until the real action starts.

Please review, as it makes me happy in the pants-area.  
Also, suggestions on making Artemis not seem too stupid would be more than welcome.  
OKAY, OKAY. CLICK THE BUTTON AND TELL ME HOW IT WAS. :D


	5. Drinks

**Drinks**

I do not own Artemis Fowl or any other canon characters.

* * *

Lunch went well. It had been perfectly polite and Caroline had chosen to ignore the light strain the Angeline had over Artemis. Caroline had spent most of her time picking at her food than eating it, and staring at the people around the table than contributing to the conversation. She had caught Artemis glancing at his watch every so often, and she notice the fact that her grandparents had specific spots at the table (a place had been set to accommodate her grandfather, who was a lefty), and also that someone was watching the lunch through a crack in the kitchen door.

She had started up a light discussion with Artemis about the art in the front hall, and about who had painted the Fowl portraits, and was the stone really as old as she thought?

Through their little conversation, Artemis was able to deduce that Caroline's intelligence was slightly above average, and that she was very observant. He also watched how she ate very little, and suspected an eating disorder.

* * *

When Angeline Fowl invites you over for drinks, she _means_ drinks. Caroline stared wide-eyed at her grandparents and the thin woman.

Artemis just looked bored.

"Holy shit, Artemis… Does this happen a lot?" They were both sitting on the same chesterfield sofa, Caroline looking slightly alarmed and the boy next to her was reduced to picking at the weave of the sofa to occupy his time.

"Unfortunately, that is the case; your grandparents get smashed with my mother at least twice a week."

Caroline's mouth formed a little 'o' shape, and she watched her grandfather laugh raucously at something her grandmother said.

"Oh _god _this is embarrassing."

"You'll get used to it. Eventually."

The two teenagers sat in silence, just watching what was going on before their very eyes. Then Angeline turned to Caroline and smiled a slightly inebriated smile at her. Caroline smiled back, awkwardly.

"Honey, I can't wait for you to meet the kids, but until Wednesday, we could spend some time together and go shopping or just talk." From behind the woman, Elyse Edderstein nodded furiously.

Caroline didn't know how to react. She looked at Artemis for reassurance, but no help came from the boy. She smiled unsurely and nodded a yes.

"Oh Elyse, Karl, she's so adorable."

Caroline reflected that she was at least two inches on the woman, and maybe it was some sort of drunk confusion or grandeur. She seriously considered pouting and arguing the fact, but she let the woman go on with her belief.

Minutes passed.

"What do you usually do when my grandparents are over?" Artemis seemed to consider his answer for a second.

"I excuse myself and say that I have to get back to studying."

"But you can't do that now, seeing as _you came home from term a week early_." She grinned sardonically at him. He looked at hard for a second, as if judging the response to everything else he knew about her. It sickened him slightly how fake her interaction was, but he was sure it sickened her as well.

"I can show you around." Caroline just nodded.

The manor was beautiful enough, but Caroline hadn't gone on the tour to appreciate that. In fact, Artemis wasn't really showing her around as much as she was just following him.

Artemis noticed how Caroline had the slightly annoying habit of dragging her feet. The silence (besides her heels dragging) was absolute, and he was rather surprised when she broke the silence.

"How can you deal with that all the time?" Her voice had gone flat and dead, the same way it had been during the flight. She had dropped the act, but why?

"Deal with what?" He knew very well what she was talking about. He imagined her rolling her eyes.

"I'm guessing that your parents are really," she searched for the word, "assertive in your life. How do you deal with that?" Artemis suddenly realized that Caroline was left alone as much as she wanted as home, and that she barely ever saw her parents. It wasn't very healthy, especially because of what had happened to her.

"I didn't really have parents for two years; it makes you come to appreciate them." That was the end of that discussion. The girl unnerved him a little bit. If he hadn't met her on the plane, her act would've had him fooled.

They reached the study, where he let her in and warned her not to mess with anything too much. She nodded and went over by one of the book cases, where she picked up a book and curled up in an armchair. Within minutes, the room was silent except for the clacking of typing and the turning of pages.

Forty five minutes later, Artemis had forgotten that he wasn't by himself and almost had a heart attack when the heavy psychology textbook fell to the ground.

Caroline was asleep again. Surely that wasn't healthy.

* * *

Sorry, this is kind of a filler chapter.  
I'm pretty sure that next chapter will have some more action and everything will start to speed up.  
Thanks for my reviewers (: you guys made my day.

Sorry if Caroline is a bit of an angstball in this chapter, but you would be too.  
I had to erase about half this chapter because I made Artemis kinda stupid. I hope I did better now.  
Pwease R&R (:


	6. Pimpin' Ride

**Pimpin' Ride**

Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl.

* * *

Morning was half gone by the time Caroline woke up in her bed. At home.

After several moments of confusion, Caroline decided that she didn't really care how she'd gotten home. In fact, she didn't remember when she'd fallen asleep.

Whatever.

She lugged herself into her bathroom and showered, scrubbing every inch of her body free of no dirt at all. She sung a little ditty with her cracked singing voice. The voice that bounced from the walls didn't sound like her voice at all and she stopped in embarrassment.

Caroline turned off the water and looked down at herself. The water dripped from her hair and onto her bulging ribs. She felt her stomach lurch.

She ran out of the shower, almost tripping on the slick tiles. She wrapped herself in a towel and ran to the kitchen.

She ripped open the refrigerator and her eyes scanned its contents. She picked up a pear and bit deep into it. The fruit's juices dripped down her chin as she wolfed down the pear. She ate two more pears for breakfast, but they didn't stay in her stomach for long.

* * *

It took her half an hour to realize that she was alone in the vast expanse of her grandparent's home. She tried to call them, but their phones were off. She wandered back to the kitchen, where she found a note on one of the counters. It was written in a messy, hurried version of her grandmother's script; _Call Fowls when you wake up._ Very cryptic.

She did so, dialing the number that had been thrown on the little paper.

It rung once.

In the second before anyone said anything, something inside her desperately longed for them to answer with, 'I've been expecting you."

"Hello?" It was definitively Artemis' voice.

"Um…" she paused, "hi."

There was an awkward silence.

"D'you know why my grandparents wanted me to call you?"

"Yes, you're supposed to get over here."

"_How?_" She couldn't drive (she'd never had to), and even though they were neighbors, their houses were over a mile apart. She'd never been one for running.

"I'll pick you up."

"Don't you have a driver or a butler or something?" She wasn't all that partial to the idea of being alone in a confined space with the genius at the moment.

"Apparently he left to go back to his own devices; it is summer vacation after all." Caroline thought she detected something slightly bitter in his voice. She let it pass.

"Okay."

Artemis came to pick her up fifteen minutes later, and Caroline almost laughed when he pulled up in a cute silver sports car. She got in and felt the soft leather cradle her bottom. This time her grin turned to several giggles. She could tell that it left Artemis disconcerted.

"Sweet ride." Caroline saw him glance at her from the corner of his eye.

"I got it for my birthday." She rubbed the leather.

"Great for picking up chicks."

Artemis tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Caroline laughed. Hard.

Life was always better when she was making someone uncomfortable. She liked the power to bend people's feelings at her will. And even if she couldn't really fathom Artemis', she still knew how to make socially awkward boys as uncomfortable as possible.

They had pulled into the Fowl's garage by the time Caroline had stopped laughing.

He got out of the car and waited for Caroline to follow him. She did so, but her movements were slower than his.

"So where're Elyse and Karl?"

"Off somewhere with my mother."

"_Somewhere_? They left me by myself?"

"Hardly; I'm here."

"So you're babysitting me?"

"In essence."

"That's hardly responsible."

Caroline got the feeling that Artemis was not pleased with the arrangement, so after following him up to their kitchen, she told him that she was going to explore the house. He didn't respond, but she knew he had the whole place under surveillance (the cameras could hardly be for decoration) and she was sure the Fowl's had an intercom system installed.

* * *

It took her a couple hours to get bored of exploring and she found herself in the Fowl's kitchen at around half past four.

She took some leftovers from the fridge and ate them cold. She washed the plate and the silverware and set them on the counter. She went off to find Artemis. If Caroline spent too much time by herself, she would start to remember things she didn't want to for lack of occupation. As she opened doors and came up empty every time, a horrible stench started filling her senses.

She knew that it wasn't real, but how could it not be? The smell was overpowering and a mixture of piss and sweat and blood. There was also a slightly rotten smell in there as well. Ran down the hallway as if her life was on the line and ripped the last door open. The lights of monitors lit up the room, but she was too frightened to notice. All she saw was another door on the other end of the room, presumably leading to the bathroom.

She wrenched the handle open and tumbled in, a mass of quivering nerves. She locked the door and turned on the lights. While quaking, she felt her stomach wring and churn.

Caroline threw up until the stench was vanished and all that was left was the bitter taste of bile.

She fell asleep.

* * *

Holly had called and Artemis lost focus on everything else. She was using a forcedly causal tone that she only used when something bad had happened. Before she could get to anything of importance, however, Caroline had burst into the room, crying, not only that, but she apparently didn't notice the fact that he was in the room and had headed straight for the adjoining bathroom.

"Please excuse me Holly, but could you hold on for a second?"

"Artemis, _now_ is really not the-"

"Caroline? What's wrong?"

"Artemis? Who's Caroline?"

"Holly, can you wait? The silly girl's gone and locked herself in the bathroom."

"_What?_ Who is Caroline?"

"Thank you." He disconnected the line.

* * *

"Can you believe the mudboy?" Foaly looked up.

"What'd he do?"

"Well he's got a girl in the house," she fumed.

"A _girl_?" Foaly was aghast.

"_And_, he hung up on me because _Caroline_ locked herself in the bathroom."

"Did you tell him?"

"No, that's the problem, he doesn't know that Mulch is coming."

"Oh."

* * *

It was a good thing that people in panic usually overlook things, or Artemis would've had to resort to breaking the door down. There were two doors leading into the bathroom; one from the study, and one from the library. Artemis found her asleep on the cold tiles. At least she'd had the courtesy of vomiting into the toilet before passing out.

He would have to start worrying about her or else she might hurt herself. He'd have to call Minerva for some advice as well, seeing as girls weren't really his forte.

He wished that Butler hadn't gone home, seeing as he'd have to get Caroline into a bed, or at least something more comfortable than tiles.

It took him nearly three quarter of an hour to lug her through the vast expanse of the library and to one of the guest rooms. He told her off under his breath almost the entire time, as well.

By the time the ordeal was over with, Artemis was in no mood to work, and therefore shut his computers down and prepared himself some dinner. After eating he went back up to the study and picked up one of the psychology textbooks so he could figure out what was the best way to deal with Caroline. He didn't notice the ring on his desk pulsing colors.

* * *

It was early morning by the time that Caroline woke up. To her surprise, she was warm and comfortable instead of cold and achy. She made a mental note to not mess with Artemis all that much. She looked around the room and was pleased to find an adjoining bathroom, but was disappointed in the lack of bathrobes.

She didn't care all that much and took a shower anyways, wrapping herself in a towel instead.

Caroline knew the way to the kitchen, and made her way there. She discovered that it was a lot earlier than she'd thought. She looked inside the refrigerator and found some more leftovers. At five fifteen in the morning, Caroline was eating a breakfast that consisted of gourmet leftovers from a couple days ago in a towel. She hoped that Artemis had more important things to do than eat at the moment. By the time she finished the meal, she was feeling a lot better, and she stood up to wash her plate and dropped her fork by accident. She put the plate in the sink and bent down to pick up the fork. While straightening up, her eyes caught sight of something by the doorway. Caroline screamed with all her might, the shrill sounds filling the house and snapping Artemis to attention immediately. He ran down the flights of stairs and through the corridors to the kitchen.

Caroline was clutching the fork so tightly that her knuckles where white. In the doorway there was a muddy, hairy _thing_, and it looked hungry.

* * *

**I'M SO SORRY, GUYS!** I know I promised an update ages ago, but I've been having really epic writer's block foreverrrrr.

I'm sorry this isn't really that long and full of suckage. And I'm sorry Caroline... kinda... yeah.

She won't be the damsel in distress for the most part, she just got freaked out by being by herself in the giant, empty house, with Artemis. And little Arty is hardly company.

I really hate how this chapter turned out, but I can't keep you guys waiting any longer.

Please review, it makes me real happy (:

* * *


	7. Witty and Chunky

**Chunky Monkey**

I don't own anything you recognize.  
Sorry this chapter is shorter, I just... um, thought the place I cut it off was the best place to.

* * *

To be really, truly honest, Mulch hadn't asked for this. He'd volunteered to go inform the Mud Boy, seeing as whenever he visited Fowl Manor he got as much food as he wanted (good food, too) and the Fowl boy knew how to treat a fellow felon. Things were fine up until after he'd broken in.

There was a girl, wrapped in a towel, screaming at him with all her might. His beard was practically curling at the repeating noises. As soon as she stopped screaming to breathe, Mulch waved both hands at her, frantically.

"Calm down now, today's not the day I want my ears to start bleeding."

She just ogled at him.

"So… can you get Artemis down here for me?"

She just stared at him, and after a few seconds she sucked in a big breath.

"There's no need for that, Caroline." Artemis was in the doorway leading from the Dining Room, slightly ruffled and out of breath.

"What is that… _thing_?" She jabbed the fork in her had at his general direction.

"He's a little person. Now don't be rude." Her eyebrows shot up at his evasive answer.

"Yeah, you might hurt my feelings."

She snorted, disbelieving, but decided that she best get out Artemis' business.

"Alright, I'll go back to bed, and when I wake up, this won't have happened."

Artemis closed his eyes and rubbed his temples a bit.

"Caroline, it's really not that healthy for you to sleep that much."

"Artemis," she started, looking him straight in the eyes, "your face isn't healthy." Out of the corner of their eyes, they saw Mulch's hand shoot up to cover his mouth. He obviously didn't expect the remark that followed.

"Caroline, please do homework or something."

"I finished all that already."

"Okay then, just run in place or something." You could tell that Artemis had started to take the 'babysitting duty' seriously.

"Artemis, who _is _that? I thought Minerva was your little girlfriend."

Artemis' face fell, while Caroline's lit up immediately. It was pretty incredible news.

"Artemis has a girlfriend?!"

"I know!"

"How'd he get the courage to look her in the eyes?"

"I don't know."

"I bet you she's fat."

Artemis had gotten very quiet. Caroline had judged it best to shut up, but she never listened to anyone, including herself. She wasn't even sure if he was angry, maybe just quiet. Mulch, on the other hand, laughed.

"She's got to be smart, though."

"Witty and chunky, _nice_." Mulch elbowed the girl, signaling her to be quiet.

"I'm Caroline, who're you?"

"I'm Mulch Diggums, little person." They laughed together. Artemis had just watched the exchange with uncanny attention.

"Mulch, you had news to tell me?" Artemis piped up after a couple of seconds.

"Oh, yes." Both men looked at Caroline, and she got the hint to leave.

"Alright, alright; I'm going to rummage around for some clothes." She left.

Artemis turned to Mulch.

"So what's so important that you had to come here and tell me?"

"Didn't Holly tell you?" Artemis thought back to the brief conversation he'd had with her.

"No."

"So you didn't know I was coming?"

"No."

"No wonder the Mud Girl was screaming."

They got down to business.

* * *

By the time they were over, Fowl Manor was in need of a good trip to the supermarket. Mulch had eaten everything in several refrigerators, besides the yogurt. Through the last bites of a hunk of Gouda cheese, Mulch posed an interesting question.

"So what about the Mud Girl?"

Artemis looked up from where he was sitting, rubbing his temples.

"What about her?

"What're you going to do with her?"

"We're going to have to bring her along." Mulch screwed up his face.

"Where's your communicator? Headquarters wants to talk to you." Artemis looked down to his hand and cursed mentally. He excused himself and went up to the study, where he picked up the pulsing ring. He turned it and put it up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Mud Boy, there is no way in _hell_ we're bringing another one of you down here." It was Holly, of course.

"Calm down Holly… Foaly, you've done a background check on Caroline I'm guessing?" There was a grunt.

"It's in the process."

They waited for a couple of seconds, which Artemis used to get back to Mulch.

"Okay; Caroline Victoire Edderstein. She was born on October sixth, 1993. The Daughter of a Pharmaceutical giant and a well-to-do author. That's not where the fortune comes from, though, her grandparents did very well for themselves in the diamond industry, and they invested very well.

"She's the second child of the family, her older brother named Wyatt, born in 1991."

Foaly paused, and then cleared his throat slightly uncomfortably.

"Death date of May 18th, 2006. Both of the children were kidnapped from JFK international airport on April 19th, 2006 on the way to Ireland for their spring break. They were held for around a month before the police finally found the apartment they were being held in. Upon entering, the police had seen two dead bodies and Caroline collapsed on the floor. The smell of decomposition and death made several members of the force puke upon entering. Caroline was barely alive when they carried her to the hospital."

Even Mulch had stopped eating and was sitting abnormally quietly.

"The dead bodies were Wyatt Edderstein and Allan Vahn, one of the kidnappers. Allan was more recently dead, showed signs of strangulation and had several lesions in his skull. The police assumed that the other kidnapper didn't want to split the ransom, but they never found out, as the second kidnapper never returned to the scene.

"Caroline has been prescribed with Lithium, Abilify, and several depression drugs. She refuses to take them, and her mother agrees with the sentiment.

"She's got exceptional grades and is speculated to have an I.Q. of around 145. She enjoys making people uncomfortable and takes comfort in being in control."

There was a heavy silence.

"I'll get her." Artemis' voice was almost a whisper. And it was final.

* * *

**Edited 6.3.08  
**I'm so sorry for not updating.

I promise that I'll get something out soon.


	8. Tiny Surprises

Tiny Surprises

* * *

**Wow, that was a super long wait for this chapter.  
I'm really sorry, but this being summer I promise that the next couple will be coming in at a steady flow.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. **

* * *

Consciousness fluttered uneasily in and out of existence for Caroline. It'd had some bad times in there and it was reluctant to see what the rest of her life had in store for it. Cautiously, Caroline rejoined the world of the conscious, but it was hard to believe from what she was hearing.

"Mulch mentioned something about the demons, but he didn't elaborate."

"I can't discuss anything until we get back to Section Eight." Caroline could hear Artemis grunt in annoyance, something that she wouldn't expect to come from the boy. Suddenly the earth shook, and the air exploded in a frenzy of obscene language. At least, what Caroline could understand was obscene, the rest a garbled mess.

Artemis' voice said something reproachful in a language she didn't understand, but the female voice from before seemed to ignore him.

Caroline, on the other hand had suddenly become aware of the speeds at which they had been traveling at. One glance around the room after being jolted out of her grogginess had her terrified and not even curious about the tiny person sitting next to Artemis. She covered her eyes and moaned from where she was huddled on the floor. She heard someone shifting to look at her and something being muttered.

"Artemis could you knock her out again?" If she wasn't so terrified, Caroline would've laughed at the idea of _Artemis_ knocking someone out. Three seconds later, she was asleep.

* * *

When she came to again, Caroline was sure that the earlier exchange was a dream, but she was scared to open her eyes anyways.

"Artemis?" Her voice was small and meek. There was no reply. She opened her eyes slowly, trying to take in her surroundings. It wasn't hard, things didn't even look that alien. Everything was just scaled down a bit and looked futuristic. She laughed and had the notion that Mr. Diggums probably lived there. She got off the couch she had been sleeping on after wiping off most of the drool she'd left on the far end and went to inspect things further. Before she got to press any of the interestingly marked buttons beneath blank screens, someone screeched behind her.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DON'T TOUCH THAT." This was followed with unintelligible mutters. Before turning around, Caroline checked if her ears were bleeding and prepared herself to screech back. She didn't get to. As soon as she turned around, her brain shut off.

She was standing across from a fuming centaur.

Foaly was not a happy centaur.

Not at all.

This was not only because Artemis had dumped the Mud Girl in his office, but informed him that it was Foaly's duty to take care of her while he, Holly, and Mulch were off having an adventure. _And_ Artemis had forbidden him to sedate her. The girl was making weird noises, and it just made Foaly want to trample her all the more.

"Excuse me, Mr. Centaur?" He pinned her with a reproachful glare and made an inquiring sort of noise with his throat. "Where am I?" Her voice was tinged with barely repressed panic, and Foaly recognized the look from one of the patients at the ward he visited his sister at one time. He made a note to fully evaluate the girl in the time that she'd be with him, because he didn't want to be in any sort of danger or anything.

"I'll only answer if you back away from the control panel." She did so, going back to the sofa where she'd woken up and sitting down. Foaly circled her the entire time, keeping one hand poised to do god-knows-this if she attempted god-knows-what. She was looking up at him expectantly, the fear in here eyes bleeding away to confusion. Foaly bit his cheek to keep from grinning; the girl probably thought she was dreaming.

She did, in fact, come to the conclusion that she was dreaming. It'd probably been what she'd eaten for breakfast. It was probably something of Mrs. Fowl's and it didn't come as too much of a surprise to her that the food was laced with _something_, seeing as the woman had seemed much too cheery for the short time in which she'd held her company. As the seconds passed, the suspicion that the centaur was stupid or something built up, as it was smiling dumbly with a glazed look in his eyes. She cleared her throat and that seemed to shake him out of his stupor.

"Mister Centaur?"

"My name is Foaly, and you're at Section Eight headquarters a couple miles beneath the earth." This caused Caroline to smile blandly at him and nod; she'd heard somewhere that it was better to go with the flow with these kinds of things rather than against.

"Uh, um, cool," was all she could manage to get out. The two spent some time in silence, and the centaur, er, Foaly, got back to what Caroline presumed to be work. Caroline was just feeling sleepy again (she'd heard that it was a bad idea to sleep during these kinds of things, too) when a question bubbled up in her mind. "Where's Artemis?"

Foaly beckoned her over without even turning around and when she was a couple of footsteps away, he pointed at one of the screens. There was silence for almost a minute before, "What the _fuck_ is this woman _eating_?"

On the screen (which faded as you got farther away) Artemis and Mulch (the hairy thing from before) were climbing over what looked like a cave-in.

"Excuse me?" The centaur asked, amused.

"Mrs. Fowl puts something in her food and I ate some of her leftovers earlier today," _or was it yesterday? _ "And whatever it was must be really strong because not only am I in a dwarf's high-tech office, but I'm watching as Artemis Fowl is climbing over fallen rocks, and is being led by something really cute." She'd just noticed the reptilian creature, as its coloring made it blend into the rocks.

On the screen, Artemis stopped climbing and stood still for a second or two.

"I can assure you that my mother doesn't do _drugs_." His voice was icy, but Caroline didn't really notice. Instead she let out a strangled-giraffe noise and stepped away from the screen.

"He can _hear _us?" She whispered it to Foaly, completely ignoring Artemis' remark. The centaur nodded gravely, but she got the sneaking suspicion that he was laughing at her.

"Holly and I can hear you, too." Mulch's voice carried through the speakers, and Caroline just nodded dumbly in response.

"They can't see us, though." Caroline stopped nodding and glared at Foaly instead.

"Okay," she said, _maybe I'm not dreaming. _

"Okay," she repeated, _maybe I'm hallucinating again._

"O-okay," she stuttered, _maybe I'm having a psychotic breakdown. _

Distantly, she saw Artemis turn towards the camera, frowning. She felt as if she'd just run a marathon. She saw Artemis' lips move, but the sounds were drowned out by nothing and she felt herself submit to panic. Caroline saw the centaur turn towards her, and suddenly the world was spinning. Suddenly the world was black.

* * *

_"Carrie, Carrie, wake up; the plane's gonna be here in ten minutes."_

_"Wyatt, seriously, stop shaking me." He let her go and she fell back onto the comfortable lounge chair. Caroline rubbed her eyes._

_"Where's mom and dad?" She managed to stifle a yawn._

_"They went to go get coffee." Their father hated the hazelnut blend that they served at the VIP lounge._

_"Let's go get them, or else we'll be late." Grudgingly, the lazy boy gave in to his rather whiny younger sister and led the way towards the Starbucks Coffee._

_Wyatt's phone vibrated in his pocket._

_"Must be them," he said as he fished it out and answered it. He stopped walking and stood stock still._

_"Wyatt, what is it?" He didn't say a word; instead he reached out and grabbed her hand._

_He hung up the phone and looked at Caroline calmly._

_"Dad got the notion that we were at LaGuardia and got him and mom lost. We have to go get them."_

_Caroline laughed, it was just the kind of thing that Mr. Edderstein would do._

_Wyatt led her one of the doors to the parking lot. There was nobody there._

_Caroline looked around in confusion. Wyatt looked grim. His phone rang again and he answered it._

_"Alright; where are they, you sick son of a bitch?"_

_Caroline's eyes widened._

_There were footsteps behind them._

_"They're probably looking for you right now." Wyatt said something that Caroline didn't quite catch because two hands wrapped themselves around her. One clamped her mouth shut, and the other picked her struggling body off the ground. Caroline saw Wyatt run at the man who had spoken and see the man knock him out. She heard the two men laugh as bother her and her brother were carried out into the parking lot. The man who was holding her shifted his hand to cover her nose. She bit his hand, but that only caused him to laugh harder and shift his other hand to grab her ass. Tears welled up in her eyes as darkness ate the corners of her vision. Then all she knew was darkness._

* * *

Had she not been slowly descending back amongst the aware, Caroline might've found the fact that she spent most of her time sleeping funny. The merest speculation of the thoughts were briskly blown out of the park because the familiar sound of an EKG monitor brought the memories of, well, the last time she had been conscious and came to the conclusion that she'd overdosed or something. She opened her eyes slowly, and once she started registering the room around her, shut them very, very, quickly.

It seemed as if she'd been checked into a midget hospital.

* * *

**Caroline's flashbacks are triggered by stress and/or panic. Her mind and body forcefully shut off because it's too much for her to bear and she seizes while this goes on.  
**

I'd really like to know what you guys think, so please read and review!


	9. Beany Brain

**Beany Head**

Disclaimer: I only own the products of my own imaginings, not anything you recognize from the books.

* * *

The distinctive sound clip-clopping of hooves on tiles approached her, and her hands covered her eyes in response. You know, just in case she could see through her eyelids.

It sounded like he was fiddling with something to her right, but she hadn't gathered up the courage to look yet.

The sound of tiny feet scurrying across the tiles made the sounds stop.

"Mr. Foaly, I'd very much appreciate if you stopped fiddling with the human's saline drip." Hooves on tiles again, "thank you, now don't say anything to scare her. Apparently she's prone to severe panic attacks."

Caroline almost winced when she felt tiny hands pat her arm gently. The little hands grabbed hers, and with surprising strength, pried them off her eyes and forced Caroline to look at a very tiny doctor. She'd meant to shut her eyes, but something in her mind exploded. She stared vacantly at the creature, who found it not only just a bit disconcerting, but really, really creepy. The creature decided not to address the human directly.

"We've been changing her fluids in intervals between saline and glucose solutions. From the look of her body fat index, weight, and condition of her hair, she appears to have an eating disorder, or several." Foaly snorted from the other side of the room.

"I could've told you that without running any tests." Caroline struggled to sit up so she could glare at the obnoxious centaur, but discovered that her midsection and feet were bound down. She reached down to try to take it off, but from the feeling of it, it was a restraint she'd never encountered before. The two creatures continued speaking as if she wasn't there.

"When'd she finally stop seizing?"

"About half an hour after we got her here and brain activity slowed after the seizures stopped."

"You're reading my _brain activity_?"

"And the scan you requested turned out negative. As the resident specialist, I caution you against a mind wipe, seeing as any more damage to her psyche will cause her fracture to expand into a break."

The monitor on her right was showing not only her heart rate, but another set of lines. As her mind raced to process the information she'd just heard, the line began to curve upward. It reached a plateau when Caroline reached the conclusion that these tiny people (and centaur) she'd met so far couldn't be _so_ stupid, seeing as they'd figured something out that she'd known for a long time. Vaguely, she also knew that some of her mind was still shut off to preserve her sanity, but right now she was ignoring the fact in light that she needed a familiar face.

"Where's Artemis?" The two creatures looked at her oddly, as if they'd just realized she was in the room with them. The tiny cute thing loosened the restraints very slightly and pressed a button that pushed the top half of the bed up to a comfortably upright position.

"So he should come in? Shouldn't you be mad at him for getting you into this mess?" Caroline nodded to the first question, but cast Foaly a glare.

"It's not like its safe to leave me alone," her voice was bitter. It might've been her imagination, but she thought she saw the centaur smirk.

At the door, Artemis stooped slightly to get in. It was obvious by his familiarity of the entire place, or atmosphere, or whatever that he'd been here before. It was that, or the same confidence that the damnable boy seemed to exude all the time. If she'd expected him to rush to her side or smile at her, she would've been disappointed. She did not expect anything of the sort, instead just trusted that he'd tell her what the hell was going on.

And he'd tell her, if only because she was apt to have another panic attack if she got too scared.

Before anyone could say anything and things got awkward, a different creature pushed its way past Artemis and to the side of the first one. The cute one looked at the second one who was taller and proportioned more like an adult rather than a toddler.

She briefly wondered if the taller one was there to take the cute one home after a day of playing doctor. Her thoughts were short-lived.

"Dr. Ymmetal, I have the injection you ordered."

Caroline was mildly concerned, seeing as she never signed off on getting pumped full of chemicals, but Artemis didn't look dazed or anything, so she trusted her babysitter, completely ignoring the fact that in the short time she'd known him he'd always had the same (short) range of facial expressions, and that neither dazed, confused, or concerned had never been part of it.

"What's that?"

The cute one (aka Doctor Ymmetal) picked up a small syringe from the tray the tall one was holding and did the whole tap-the-glass-squirt-some-out thing before turning back to Caroline.

"What's in that?" Caroline wasn't afraid of the needle in the least, it was just the urine color of its contents that disconcerted her.

"Hold still, I'll explain after…" The doctor had surprisingly strong hands for such a tiny creature, and with the strong hands, the doctor pulled Caroline's head down to level with his own before feeling around the area behind her ear.

"You won't feel this at all." She did feel _something_, but not the needle. She couldn't really explain what it was, but it didn't hurt so she guessed it was okay. Then she remembered that they were reading her brain activity and that she didn't feel the needle going in.

"You put something in my _head_?"

On the monitor next to her, another line appeared, climbing. And with that climbing line, there was a feeling rising inside of Caroline that she hadn't felt for three year, two months, and ten days? Or was it eleven now?

She was happy, or at least she wasn't unhappy.

"See how her Serotonin levels are rising to a little above normal?"

"You mean the line that just appeared?" Caroline hadn't noticed Mulch coming in, or another one of the tall creatures. The doctor nodded curtly.

"So what did you do to me?"

"Well, after the seizures stopped, we implanted a Bean into your head and I just used it to diffuse the happy shot into your bloodstream."

"A bean?"

"We call them that because they look like a dried legume until they're injected with whatever they have to dispose. Dr. Ymmental drilled a hole into your skull and secured it with enough space so it'd be comfortable once it expanded." Foaly had stepped in with pride seeping into his voice.

"Oh, okay." For some reason, Caroline found that she didn't really care.

"Initial side effects include dismissive attitude and lack of coordination, both of which subside in under an hour."

The doctor picked up her chart and wrote some notes down.

"Bring her back in 120 hours for next course of treatment."

The doctor left.

"I guess that means you're discharged." Foaly clip-clopped his way over to her and somehow undid her restraints. If Caroline hadn't been drugged, she would've remembered to stow away the pin code he used in the recesses of her mind for future reference. When she went to stand up, Artemis stepped forward and Foaly flung his arms to grapple Caroline's waist. She gasped, and then giggled at her situation.

"You shouldn't get up quite yet, unless you want a cracked skull for your troubles."

"Oh what_ever_, I can do what I want." Caroline wriggled her way out of Foaly's grasp and hopped to her feed nimbly. Unfortunately her legs weren't prepared to take the strain and she began to tip over, and by that time Artemis took another step towards her and snatched her out of the air firmly.

"Caroline, you have to do what you are told." She attempted a venomous glare but failed miserably because she had to peel her face off of the boy's shoulder first. Anyways, if her face was visible, the expression on it was closer to retarded rather than something Artemis Fowl could fear.

"Fine." She said it petulantly, but that was filtered out by the fact that she was talking into a slightly worn and dusty suit.

She missed the look that Foaly and Mulch shared.

"As soon as you get lucid, I will try to explain to you what is going on." They had decided that this was the best course of action after finding out about her fragile mental state.

* * *

"_So the girl has an actual_ fissure_ in her mind, huh?" _

"_Is it that hard to believe, Mulch?" Holly rolled her eyes at her partner._

"_Well, it's not like us Dwarves really have to think about all of this mental mumbo jumbo. We just stick to eating dirt and finding gold." _

"_Well nobody in their right mind would _rape_ a dwarf, so they don't have to deal with that special brand of trauma, along with the loss of a sibling and being stuck with-" Foaly was cut off by the muddy, hairy ball of leather by his thighs._

"_Yes, yes, I get it." _

"_With a little combination of medicine and magic, I think her mind will be in good enough condition for a mind wipe. Otherwise we might risk permanent insanity or have to let Caroline go home with her memories intact."_

"_And the latter is no option."_

"_Neither is the former." Artemis' three companions turned to scrutinize the boy. He'd seemed to take it upon himself to see to her well-being for no readily apparent reason. And yet all three of them knew there was a reason, because Artemis Fowl never did _anything_ without reason. The three pressured him to reveal such a reason with their eyes, but they knew that if he didn't intend to tell them, they would never know. Artemis let out a silent huff of irritation and changed the cross of his legs._

* * *

Artemis handed Caroline off to Mulch, as his head was a much better (sturdier, more solid) foundation for balance. Mulch only minded that she was tugging at his hair, but relished the moment that a beetle crawled onto her hand, causing her to shriek and crush it in her palm. She then wiped the soiled hand on his back, a motion that Artemis watched with an appreciative smile.

Caroline didn't notice all the hallways that they went through (there weren't that many. They actually spent most of the time in the elevator, going up.) because she was just focusing on not tripping and was just basking in the feeling that filled every corner of her body. It was amazing how she didn't feel _sad_, a feeling she had been living with for so long that it had become a staple in her teenagehood.

Suddenly the slow, clumsy feeling was starting to fade away at the edges, and she found herself on the couch she had drooled on earlier that day (or was it yesterday?). She felt vaguely like Rip Van Winkle; as if she was slowly waking up from years of heavy dreamless sleep. When she stared at Artemis, she saw the gears churning as he struggled to phrase what he wanted to tell her. Apparently it was of considerable volume or of a delicate nature, as she couldn't see him struggle with anything short of, well, the situation she'd found herself in.

* * *

**Sorry this took a bit longer than I thought.  
I was meaning to get it out yesterday, but incidents concerning Pineapple Express arose.  
Anyway, sorry I named the doctor after cheese, but what can I say, I was hungry.**

Also, for all those concerned, Holly will take more of a part in the story.

**Please read and review, I really want to hear all of your feedback, and I really feel as if I could use some help keeping everything in line so if anyone would like to have a little chat with me, I would love to bounce ideas off of someone.**


	10. Too Many Questions

When had she lost track of the story? When had she started to daydream of magical adventures?

Caroline knew that Artemis could probably answer her questions, but she didn't really want to know the answers all that badly. She was way too preoccupied in the feeling that she'd been struggling to cope with for the last… hour? Two hours?

Had she been properly rested or sober, she would've been able to gauge the time since the cute thing had injected her, but she wasn't and couldn't.

How many times had she choked back a laugh as Artemis patiently explained to her about the existence of magic and the People? Mulch had laughed too, but probably for different reasons.

Was she tuning Artemis out because it was all boring or because she couldn't get a handle of what he was saying? Maybe she had finally gone mad and this was some crazy schizophrenic illusion.

Madness would explain why she wasn't feeling horribly, horribly empty on the inside. She vaguely recalled a centaur telling her about the medication being secreted into her brain.

Did crazy people know of their affliction?

"Sometimes." Oops, she had said it out loud. Did she giggle out loud as well?

* * *

This was futile.

Artemis rubbed his eyes slowly. They'd introduced the People's world too quickly, and the slightly stupid glaze in her eyes told him that some part of her brain had shut down in order to cope with everything that was going on.

The only way to get her to understand what was going on was to turn on that part of her brain, and the only way to do that was impossible because she needed constant monitoring.

It'd been almost an hour after the anti-depressants had been administered and she was still high. The drugs had been necessary, however, for in order for her to have a successful mind wipe her mind had to be healed.

It would not do for Caroline's fragile sanity to shatter while under his care.

Especially if he ever wanted a chance with M-

Mulch said something to Caroline, sending both of them into fits of giggles.

Artemis rubbed his temples and counted to ten.

* * *

It was weird for her, not being tired or sad or even hungry, though logically she knew she should be at least two of them seeing as she hadn't had a lick of food since the… adventure began, and her weak body needed rest as much it could get.

Maybe that stuff that had been dripping into her brain was like… what was the word for it? S-something… Sill… still… it was in coffee, whatever.

What if she fell asleep? Would she wake up in her bed in New York?

She couldn't possibly be expected to go into the airport again.

Caroline didn't want to think about the airport, about what had happened there, because when she did, the ridiculous fuzzy feeling receded slightly.

She tried to stop thinking about it, but found the feeling ebbing away from her anyways.

Caroline felt a certain genius' eyes burning a hole into her from where he stood. Was she sorry that she couldn't get a grasp of what he was trying to tell her?

She frowned, why was she asking herself so many questions? It was unnatural, before she'd just know. The last vestiges of the euphoria ebbed away, and Caroline started to think more clearly. She kept her eyes on the floor, frowning at the way her mind was moving sluggishly.

Was this how other people felt on a daily basis? Not that they'd have anything to compare it with, anyways. Her mind raced; what if she'd gotten brain damage and was stuck like that? How could she possibly survive with being of average intelligence?

She knew from experience that the shuddering breaths she was taking would lead to a panic attack.

Experience proved wrong, and Caroline actually calmed down.

Everything was so alien and confusing, and she wanted to cry.

* * *

After Mulch and the girl were done with it, Foaly knew that he'd need a new couch. Instead of gnashing his teeth and possibly biting his cheek (something he'd been doing lately and it _hurt_) he continued what he'd been doing.

The girl's file was frighteningly easy to access, and the centaur was glad that doctors had moved to computers. If it was in a file on a computer with internet access, Foaly could get it.

Seriously, the only human he knew of with a really capable firewall was in his very office, looking like he was trying to pass coins. And really, the firewall only took him minutes to take down though he was sure if Artemis Fowl was to turn against the people they wouldn't know what was behind all that protection.

The girl didn't have any allergies, and the reason why she was just starting to become lucid was that she'd never actually been sick so she'd never really needed medication for anything. Except all the psychological damage that had been done to her after being kidnapped.

There was definitively something wrong with those parents.

Foaly was startled out of his wits when Artemis put a hand on his shoulder. He pushed aside millions of years of instincts and didn't begin trampling the boy to death.

"I have an idea."

The boy looked at the screen stoically. Of course the mud boy would have an idea; he should've just waited for that instead of reading Caroline's depressing file over and over again.

He had to call Caballine and tell her he would probably be stuck in the office for a couple more days. Damn, she got that little inflection in her tone that made him want to rush home, but this was Artemis Fowl, and he'd done more for them than they had for him.

Owing Artemis Fowl was not the best position to be in, so he could only be glad that it was only a girl they'd asked him to take care of. He half listened to Artemis through his thoughts.

"Foaly?"

"Yeah, yeah, put her in a dark room and let her wake up. Mesmer yeah, yeah."

The boy frowned slightly and the centaur commended himself for being the most annoying creature under the earth.

* * *

Butler was starting to think that leaving for vacation was a bad idea. Even though it was summer and he was really in no state to actually bodyguard Artemis, he was a friend and great at having ideas bounced off of.

Also, he'd called the house several times and nobody had picked up.

Artemis _hated_ voicemails.

And after he'd taken the liberty to check, he found seventeen voicemails. Ten drunken calls from his mother, all within an hour, one from him, two from Juliet, one from Artemis Sr., one from Minerva, and two of a muffled conversation.

Butler berated himself for leaving Fowl manor, seeing as whenever the boy seemed to find time alone, the Fairies whisked him away to save the world.

He knew he was old, but was he too old to go on an adventure? How many times had he saved them? Couldn't they just have called to _ask_ if he'd wanted to come?

His phone rang, and he clumsily pulled it out, excited at the prospect of his thoughts coming true.

When had he become this sentimental?

* * *

It was always weirdly disorienting to wake up if you didn't know you'd fallen asleep. It was weirdly disorienting to find that the strangely vivid dreams you had been _just_ dreams, and that your imagination was really something to be reckoned with.

The room she was in was strangely warm for nighttime, and what she guessed was a nightlight bathed it in soft light. Even if she squinted, she couldn't make out anything but looming shapes and darkness beyond that. She stirred and sat up, wrapping the blankets around herself.

Her leg touched something warm and living, startling her. Her eyes flickered down and noticed Artemis, and how her leg was touching his butt. She withdrew her leg quickly and did her best not to laugh.

"Artemis?" The poor boy had probably had to drag her from somewhere in the house up to bed, and Caroline felt the prickles of guilt.

"Yes?" His voice was layers of honey and silk, caressing her brain softly. She wished that the room was a shade darker because her jaw dropped, and she knew he could see it. It sounded like the kind of tone you used on a lover rather than someone you'd had to drag up three flights of stairs.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Oh." Frowning, her eyes flickered up to meet his, and her disbelief was dispelled.

Parts of her mind were screaming at the prospect of his voice _seducing _her. Because that was clearly what it was doing with all that soft velvet and sweetness going on. And why couldn't she tear her eyes from his?

"When I leave, someone else will come in here."

"Okay." It _was_ okay.

"Everything they tell you is true."

"Okay." Artemis would _never_ lie to her.

"Everything they show you is true."

"Okay."

"Everything I tell you is true."

"Okay." There was a moment of silence, and Caroline found herself holding her breath, anticipating what Artemis was going to say next. Anything he told her to do she would. He would never, ever lie to her.

"Good." His voice had changed back, and his eyes lost their grip. She gasped with the loss. It was just _like_ Artemis, to mess with her like that.

The bed shifted and he left. How he could navigate his way through room was beyond her. Well, it was his house, so he probably knew it pretty well. Caroline was glad that the sluggish feeling was gone from her mind, and that she hadn't become stupid.

She heard a doorknob twist, and yellow light spilled into the room; casting definition into the room.

The outline of a child with a clipboard came in and closed the door behind itself.

"Hello?" Why was there a kid in Artemis' house? She knew that the Fowl's had twin boys, but weren't they much younger than that?

"Hello Caroline." It was the voice again! Her heart surged and adrenaline rushed through her.

"Uh, hi." She tried not to sound too excited.

"I'm going to tell you something." Anything, _anything_ to hear that voice. Were the eyes coming too?

They were, the child walked towards her, the light shining off of her eyes. It didn't even have to try to catch Caroline's eyes because they were seeking them out.

"Magic is real." Caroline nodded dumbly. If the voice said it, it had to be real. As she accepted the fact, her dreams started to make sense.

"My dreams?"

"Are real." She breathed in slowly and brought a hand up to touch the back of her ear. _Magic is real_.


	11. Too Tall

Foaly was pissed. Not just a little, either, he was bordering on angry. He kicked a computer terminal out of frustration and muttered to himself.

"_Stupid_ humans, coming down here on their _stupid_ business being _stupid _geniuses."

"Genii," corrected Artemis.

Foaly smashed his hoof against the smooth floor. Artemis found it hard to keep from smiling smugly.

In order to reduce the chance of further embarrassing himself, Foaly turned to the screens and let his fingers dance over the keys, making words and images flicker across the screen.

Little feet sounded from the other end of the room and shuffled over to Foaly's side.

"Debriefing of the human is complete, sir." The elf handed Foaly a screen which he looked over for a second and nodded.

"How much did you tell her?" Holly was on her feet, concern evident in her voice.

"Just enough to understand what's going on, but not enough to fully process."

"In other words, a mind wipe should be safe," Foaly nodded to himself approvingly.

"Only after second dose of treatment."

It would be a couple of days before the Mud Girl could be mind-wiped, then. Foaly didn't like the sound of that, seeing as he would have to send her and Artemis home before that. Artemis had made it clear that they could only stay in the Lower Elements for 24 hours.

Which meant that they only had around eight hours left with the smart Mud Boy.

* * *

Mulch went to check on the girl, and found her sitting on the makeshift bed in the near darkness. He had the vague impression that though depression seemed to be cured, she was still a little crazy. He made a mental note to tell the donkey to get her some anti-psychotics. The notion was strengthened when he realized that she was laughing to herself.

"Sorry to break up your little party, but you should go upstairs."

She looked up sharply and the dwarf was convinced he saw her blush.

"What're you staring at, shorty?" She surprised them both with the level of venom she expressed. He couldn't blame her, though; it was pretty embarrassing to be caught giggling to yourself in a dark room over nothing.

"Touchy, touchy."

"Sorry, you scared me." Mulch just shrugged and turned around. Being a criminal toughened your skin against insults and sharp words.

"Come on, you'll get lost," at his words, Caroline stood and followed him. Her head grazed the ceiling.

"So are you an actual Dwarf then, not a little person?" Her voice was tinged with awkwardness, because even though she knew that everything she'd experienced was real it was still kind of weird to ask a question like that.

Mulch just grunted.

* * *

**Thank you to Raisins-and-Kleenex, I've fixed things in chapter 10.  
Sorry for the looooong delay. I was readmitted to the hospital and things have been a little ;lrwghk;glhkcrazy.  
SO, anniversary is coming up and expect a chapter 3 times as long as usual in compensation for this short chapter and the long delay. **

**Also, new name seeing as the old one was a bit to emo for my tastes. Your thoughts?**

**Love you all and thank you for waiting. Regular updates are around the corner, really. Remember how it was in the beginning? haha probably not.  
**


	12. Poor Foaly

**Poor Foaly  


* * *

**

_Mottled light came through the ratty curtains of the room, illuminating the room weirdly._

_She was lying on something wet, and from the smell of it, it could've been one of many bodily fluids._

_She rolled over onto her side and came face to face with her brother. His skin was waxen and had a bluish tinge to it. Caroline heaved, but there was nothing in her stomach for her to throw up. She wished her hands weren't bound for many reasons, but at this point mostly so that she could shut her brother's eyes._

_Her stomach rumbled so loudly that one of her captors stirred from where he slept. _

_She was jealous; she hadn't been able to sleep since they'd been captured._

* * *

Caroline was sitting by herself on the couch once more, seeing as Artemis and the others (minus Foaly, who just sulked and stomped around angrily) had gone out again.

The genius explained to her that whenever the People (as they called themselves) were in a spot of trouble, they'd call on him in return of favors. She got the feeling that it was a lot more complicated than he explained, as things often were, but she didn't pry.

This was one of the times, Artemis had further explained, and she was the favor. She grinned at him and said something crude about returning it as soon as they got back to the surface. This had caused Artemis' cheeks to turn pink and his expression sour.

* * *

The group had left over two hours ago, and he'd told her to expect them back in s further half an hour.

For some time she'd tried to figure out the language on the screen, but it was weird and Foaly got fed up with her. He gave her a piece of his carrot cake to shut up and leave him alone. She ate it with relish and started counting Mulch's muddy tracks on the floor.

She was amazed to see that they were already half gone, and she inferred that the floor was self-cleaning. She then bugged Foaly to explain it to her because she was _boreeeed_ and after ten minutes of whining he did.

There was a layer of nanobots in the floor that broke down organic material. They fed off of the electrons from the atoms of the broken-down compounds and only needed to be replaced after two years or if there was a fire. After two years, the nanobots 'died' and were melted down and recycled.

Foaly went on to explain that it was he himself that had created the nanobots in hope that she would realize what a great genius he was, and that he was not to be bothered. It was a stupid thing to hope.

"Can you make me a toy?"

"No."

"Fine, just something cool then."

"No."

"Is that all you can say?"

"No."

Caroline giggled.

"Are you a child?" Foaly was up to the teeth with her.

"No," she mimicked his voice and stomped her foot.

Foaly started counting to ten in hopes of calming down, but he didn't.

He wondered if Caballine had ever been like Caroline, or if girls all went through a phase like that. If they did, he didn't want one.

* * *

Foaly could've cried at the sight of the genius boy when he came back (twenty minutes late). He was the cleanest of the troupe, but still shuffled uncomfortably with dust and dirt on his suit. He informed Caroline that they would be home when she woke up. The girl had only enough time to make a noise of inquiry before dropping into Holly's waiting arms. The elf had widened her stance in preparation to catch Caroline, but she'd overcompensated; the girl didn't weigh nearly what Holly had expected.

"Feed her," she told Artemis sternly.

"I know," Artemis sighed.

"Don't let her out of your sight," she said.

Foaly hid a grin behind a hairy hand. Artemis just rolled his eyes and nodded. He picked Caroline up with little strain, giving him the appearance of being stronger than he actually was. Nobody else really wanted to touch the girl.

Once the little group had left to board a titanium pod, Foaly danced a little bit, while digging his hand into a drawer and scattering nanobots onto the filthy couch.

It was really too comfortable to throw out. These were a different type, and he instructed them through his computer to wipe the last traces of Caroline from the room.

He then remembered that she would be back in five days.

He opened a drawer to finish his piece of carrot cake angrily, but found it empty.

He screamed.

* * *

**Sorry for the short update/long wait.**

**I've been ill for quite some time but I'm feeling better! **

**chaos0marine, don't apoligize! I changed the name without warning and everything, but I'm glad you like it (:**

**Hikari6007, thanks a lot! I try and I'm glad you like my story. I'm not planning on Caroline and Artemis falling in love, though; she's really too annoying and Artemis is just caring for her as someone would a cancerous dog, clinically and carefully.**

**talk to me guys, I really would like to have some friends on ff that i could talk to about this story**

**and the others i have hidden away.**


	13. Round Robin

Caroline awoke to the sound of someone whining.

It was special whining. Not your regular, ever-day, run-of-the-mill whining.

This was Artemis Fowl-grade whining.

And it was annoying as hell.

"Shhhhhhhhhh!" She managed, noticing that her body had been unceremoniously dumped in an awkward position, making only the side of her mouth available for speech.

Caroline felt the thunder clap of a laugh vibrate the air around her and guessed that there was a big man who found her funny. Artemis Sr. wasn't that big, so she guessed that Butler was there.

How long had they been gone?

Obviously not long enough for her grandparents to come home, or she'd have a lot to answer for. Caroline wriggled around until she was laying flat on her stomach, letting blood flow to her legs, which had fallen asleep.

"Artemis, you need to start working out," she said groggily as she sat up, "because I'm not that heavy." She figured that by the way that she'd been dumped onto the bed, it had been Artemis who'd had to carry her.

The boy shot her a glare, which she happily returned.

"Go back to sleep, Caroline. We sedated you for the trip and that doesn't count as real sleep."

Caroline's widened, and then rolled in irritation. She didn't blame the tiny people for making that decision, though (if it had been Arty's she'd make sure to punch him _hard_), because she knew she was annoying as hell, a liability, and a stranger.

"I guess I could take a nap," she yawned and smiled a little, appraising the boy and his manservant.

"I'll wake you up in a couple of hours." Caroline nodded a bit and snuggled down. The two men left her alone.

-

"You know Butler, after she leaves; I think I'll be ready for fatherhood." Butler nearly choked but remained stoic.

"Do you two get along? Are you friends?" Ever since Butler semi-retired from his duty, he'd been even more worried about Artemis connecting with other kids his age, or even people in general.

It was Artemis' turn to laugh.

"_You _are a friend, Butler. Taking care of her is like taking care of an unstable child." Which she was, incidentally.

"But do you get along?" Artemis thought about the question more this time. He didn't dislike the girl, but did he like her? He knew he pitied her, and respected her at least a little bit. She was intelligent, he'd give her that, but she wasn't at his own level. He was instantly reminded of the fact that neither were most of his friends.

"Our relationship has the potential to progress to friendship," he said rigidly, grudgingly.

The two went down to the kitchen, and while Butler prepared a light breakfast for the three inhabitants of the house, Artemis filled him in on the Demon situation.

* * *

_The wind was cool against her face as she flew along the countryside. She was free and the air felt lovely._

_"Hey bird," she said, and the robin she was flying next to chirped happily in response._

_"Conditions are nice today, huh?" she said as the two swooped closer to the ground._

_"Yeah, especially after that cold front last week, my beak nearly cracked while I was working on a frozen seed!" She nodded seriously._

_"My fingers were numb, and I could feel the cold through my shoes. I mean it's weird seeing as it's hot on land." The two cast a look to the ground below them, which was sandy and barren._

_They were pretty high up, as they could see the curvature of the earth on the horizon._

_"Let's dive," the robin chirped and folded its feathers back._

_Caroline pressed her hands to her sides and clapped her legs together, she then angled her body slightly downwards, and began to dive._

_Caroline noticed that on the ground there was a road winding through the dunes of the desert._

_She felt that she reached her absolute velocity as she dived. The robin was far, far behind her._

_She didn't worry that the ground was getting closer and closer._

_She didn't worry that the flying feeling in her belly was gone, meaning that her ability to fly had dissipated._

_So she was going to hit the ground._

_But she didn't._

* * *

"You are such a child," Artemis was being short with her, as usual.

"And you're a little priss." Caroline clearly knew that it wasn't a word, and had said it just to annoy Artemis, and it did.

He sped up down the hallway leading to the kitchen, which amused Caroline.

They were silent until they reached the kitchen. There was a place set for Caroline with food, but she wasn't hungry. A look from Artemis told her to sit down anyways.

Butler was sprucing up the kitchen a bit, obviously deep in thought.

"Hey Artemis." No answer.

"I wrote you a song." No answer.

"Do you want to hear it?"

"No," he answered immediately.

"Artemis, Artemis,

You got to get laid-emis,

Artemis, Artemis,

Why won't your fat girlfriend put out?" Butler stifled a laugh. Artemis' jaw tightened.

"Artemis, Artemis," she continued, "you've got weird smelly friends!"

Artemis hadn't ever really wanted to hit a girl before in his life. He shot a look to Butler that said, _'I take back what I said about us being friends.'_

"I don't really like the last line, but I ran out of creativity. He felt a hand on his shoulder, Butler's silent reminder that Artemis was the bigger person in the current situation.

"Please finish your breakfast," he said sourly and left the room.

Caroline looked at the food in front of her and frowned.

"Doctor's orders," Butler said firmly, which caused Caroline to sigh dramatically. Except, how did the manservant know? Stupid question, obviously Artemis had told him, but why?

Clearly Artemis had met all of those _people_ before, many times. And the boy was only 18, and she could imagine the boy at the scrawny age of thirteen or fourteen trying to take on fairies.

She snorted as she ate, which caused a coughing fit.

She was fine after downing half of her glass of orange juice, but the desire to eat had left her.

"Finish your food." Artemis' unexpected voice caused her to jump. She didn't want to, but she nodded docilely. She'd acknowledged that her song was out of line.

Not that she regretted singing it.

"My mother and your grandparents are coming home today."

"Cool."

There was a brief silence.

"When?" Caroline had gathered that silence didn't bother Artemis, and thought he noticed cues for speech, he didn't opt to take them unless directed by the other person.

"Tonight, their flight lands at seven."

"Are we picking them up?"

Artemis had a sudden vision of the drive to Dublin with Caroline and swallowed.

"Yes."

"Oh, okay."

She speared a slice of strawberry with her fork and chewed on it thoughtfully.

"When does your dad come home?" She ate another slice.

"My _father_ and the twins are returning in," he looked at his watch, "an hour."

"Oh."

As he cleaned, Butler loved every awkward second of the exchange.

In the end, Artemis ended up driving Caroline to pick up some of her clothes, because honestly; the girl's appearance wasn't in good shape.

Everything would be so much easier after the 72 hour period of limbo that her brain had to accept or reject the medication.

So he had to spend the time with her, and if she freaked out, he'd have the pleasure of knocking her out and hauling her to bed. And call Foaly. And get a tech to the surface to perform a major cranial surgery.

I'd be a big mess, and one Artemis hoped to avoid.

She took her sweet time getting clean and getting dressed, and Artemis found it annoying, even though he usually took twice as long as Caroline ended up taking.

She skipped down the stairs gaily and stood next to him.

He could feel that she was noticing the two inches she had on him.

"It's almost lunchtime, and we're eating when father comes home with the twins."

"Should I help setting the table or making food?" She surprised him.

And he didn't know. He assumed that Butler would be fine taking care of everything by himself, but the boy had never considered asking the older man if he required assistance.

Caroline took his silence to mean that he didn't know, relieving him of the task to tell her.

Which he was grateful for.

"Mister Butler, would you like some help?"

There was a brief silence, which Artemis broke by entering the kitchen, accidentally slamming the door behind him.

Butler gave him a questioning look, and the only response Artemis could come up with was a mild shrug.

Butler instructed the girl on what to do and Artemis just stood idly, feeling spoiled as it had never occurred to him to ask Butler if he ever needed help. Sure, there was his upbringing to account for, but still… it was common courtesy.

He used the time to check his emails on his mobile phone.

He didn't even notice that his companions were done.

Out of everyone she'd met so far in the Fowl household, she liked Butler the best.

He had a beard, but wasn't dirty, and was clearly the most physically fit person she's ever met, never mind his age of around 50 or so.

He had a soft look to his eyes when he looked at Artemis.

He also had the best accent of anyone she'd met in Ireland.

So she liked talking to him.

At least, she'd liked the conversation they'd shared so far.

"So how do you like the Old Country, then?" Pretty standard question there,.

"I don't know, I haven't really seen much of it," Caroline chuckled. Most of the time she'd been in Ireland, she'd been asleep.

"It's very green, though." Butler chuckled.

"Not used to the country, then?" She shrugged noncommittally.

"So what were you guys doing in New York?"

"Artemis was getting his mother a present."

"It's her birthday? Should I get her a present? Are you going to have a party or something like that?"

"You can ask her when she gets home with your grandparents," Artemis's voice floated in through the kitchen.

"And when is that?" Caroline didn't like being left out, and she felt that this was something rather important to be let in on.

"At seven, I told you this." She mulled over the fact and found something rather important that needed to get addressed.

"But we need to go… back…" she pointed to the ground and then pointed to her head, and then back to the ground.

"Yes," was all Artemis said, and it was obvious by his tone that it was final.

Butler, who Caroline hadn't even noticed leave the room, entered the room and announced that Artemis Fowl Senior was home.

* * *

Underground, Foaly had managed to subdue the raging demons who'd broken out of their new home.

Well, not Foaly, really. It was Section Eight, but Foaly's technology was the real hero of the day.

His babies had been out on the field, and therefore, he'd been out there too.

Kind of.

* * *

**Okay so maybe I lied about this being really long, but I couldn't wait to get it out! ****  
****Plus I don't think I have the attention span for anything longer than this at the moment, but maybe if there's more reviews ;D**

**hiiiiint hiiiint.**

**hope ya like it, and please review! if you review, a new chapter will come out soon soon soon! **


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